P090: Electronic invitations received from predatory journals and fraudulent conferences: a 6-month young researcher experience

Abstract

Introduction: Predatory publishing is a poorly studied emerging threat to scientists. Junior researchers are preferred targets as they are under academic pressure to publish but face high rejection rates by many medical journals. Methods: All electronic invitations received from predatory publishers and fraudulent conferences were collected over a 6-month period (28^th April to 27^th October 2016) following the first publication of a junior researcher as a corresponding author. Beall’s list was used to identify predatory publishers and James McCrostie’s criteria to assess if a conference should be considered as predatory. The content of electronic invitations was analyzed and is presented with descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 162 electronic invitations were received during the study period. Seventy-nine were invitations to submit a manuscript. Few invitations disclosed information related to publication fees (9, 11.4%) or mentioned any publication guidelines (21, 26.6%). Most invitations reported accepting all types of manuscripts (73, 92.4%) or emphasized on a deadline to submit (62, 78.4%). These invitations came from 22 different publishers lead by OMICS with 27 invitations (34.2%). Seventy-two invitations to be a speaker (55, 73.4%) or attend (17, 23.6%) a predatory conference were received. These conferences were held most frequently in the USA (25, 34.7%), United Kingdom (15, 20.8%) or United Arab Emirates (8, 11.1%) with only eight mentioning registration fees (11.1%). Forty-one conferences (57.0%) were unrelated to the author’s affiliations or research interests. Finally, five invitations to be a journal’s guest editor, five invitations to become a member of a journal editorial board and one invitation to contribute to the creation of a new journal were received. Conclusion: Young researchers are frequently exposed to predatory publishers and fraudulent conferences. An electronic invitation was received almost daily following the first publication as a corresponding author. Academic institutions worldwide need to acknowledge and educate young researchers of this emerging problem.